We've travelled with kids, full time, around Europe for over a year. Are you keen to explore it with your family? Get ideas, tips & inspiration from our detailed travel blog

If you ever doubt that Europe can truly amaze you? Try imagining pristine ribbons of sand, dramatic cliffs of sand silhouetted against the sky and dazzling blue water stroking the shore. Lying some 65km south west of Bordeaux or some 2hrs north of the fantastic Camping Sylvamar, it’s hard to exaggerate the sheer enormity of ‘Dune du Pilat’ Towering some 114m above sea level, it is Europe’s highest sand dune and it’s still growing!!Spreading over 4.5m eastwards each year.

The Dune du Pilat stretches from the mouth of the Bassin for almost 3km past amazing beaches and sand bars (big enough to be termed small islands!). In fact, the whole Bassin d’Arcachon area is an abundant mecca for bird lovers, wildlife enthusiasts or adventure seekers…. (see our video below from our visit last year)

Having decided to visit this year by motorhome (last year's visit was by bike from the nearby aire), the motorhome friendly car park is expensive (8 Euros) but there's plenty of space and shade to go around... plus the walk to the dune is significantly shorter, allowing you to grab whatever you need to bring for a day on the beach.. just remember the climb back from the beach will test even the healthiest of individuals :)

Breathing lungfuls of fresh salty aire as you head back up the coffee-coloured sand... you can't help but admire 'Mother Nature's' power...it's one of our absolute highlights from across Europe matching the Alhambra (Spain), Postojna Caves (Slovenia), Mt Etna (Italy), Geirgangerfjord (Norway) or Dubrovnik (Croatia).

Fingers crossed you still have some space left on your camera if you decide to visit Dune du Pilat, as you won't leave disappointed just left nursing the fact you'll have 100's of photos to work your way through!